Winter Western WIndow

Stained Glass Window? During the late fall and winter seasons, the indoor plant count in my apartment at least doubles, if not triples. I bring in all the houseplants that prefer to spend their summers outside, and I also have several "annuals" that I've wintered over for years. The large Angelwing Begonia at the top has been around for just about ten years now. I've planted sprigs of Christmas cactus around it and they seem to thrive together. In the deep blue bottle, lower right, are stems of purple Tradescanthia, another annual. The plant itself doesn't seem to live longer than a summer but I always cut off stems and keep them in water all winter. By spring they're full of roots to make another summer plant. I keep changing the vintage colored glass in this western window because it's just so fun every sunny afternoon to see the changing colors reflected on the walls and ceiling and on my other vintage collectibles. This arrangement is very warm with all of these pinks, magentas, and reds.

Pink Garden's Newest Friend: Tom

Meet Tom! Tom is a wild turkey who has recently taken up residence at Pink Gardens. Tom walks with a limp, and I haven't seen him fly yet. He seems to be quite healthy otherwise, and comes when we call him for corn. The other day he was on the "wrong" side of the house near the tracks, so I went out and called to him. He waddled over, not being able to put his full weight on his left leg, and then followed me all the way around the house to the bird feeding area. I gave him a couple of handfuls of cracked corn. He almost eats out of our hands now. I've been in contact with an old elementary school friend who rehabs birds. She's been over but of course, Tom didn't show up even though he's here most of the time. She thought his "scats" looked healthy, and I don't see any broken bones or discoloring of any sort. We'll keep an eye on him and if he seems to be getting worse we'll do a rescue.

The way Tom walks around and pecks he really seems to be a little dinosaur.

Tom's feathers are iridescent with green, orange, aqua, blue, red and lavender areas. It's really quite striking when the sun shines on him. He also has what looks for all the world like a long, thin beard sprouting out from his chest, lol.

Tom's tracks and my size 12s. Too bad they were in the snow and had no chance of petrifying. I could see these in a "Human Museum" someday, labeled "walking alongside dinosaur tracks," lol.

The End of a Long Short Day

 

Winter's Burning Coldness—Though Winter's days are short in daylight hours they seem like the longest of the year sometimes when the snow is piling up, the roads are narrowing, and sidewalks nonexistent. Life just seems to be more grating and out-of-sync to me during this season.

WinterColour: Vintage Glassware in the Sun

 

With today's almost 30 inch bright white snowfall, the light in the apartment seemed twice as much as usual. It's normally brighter in the winter than summer because the trees are bare, but with all that flat white light outside, the ambient sunlight was super bright. All of my vintage glass vases were gleaming with the sun so I took my trusty little camera and held it right up next to the vases on the shelves in the western window. I love the bright and pure colors that I captured. It's less than 10 degrees outside, another side effect of all that bright white snow, all the heat is reflected back up into the air instead of warming the ground.

Enjoy these early February colors from post-Blizzard Charlotte PInk Gardens!

Newest Thrift Store Find

I found this beautiful dark pink vase the other day at a nearby thrift store. I don't think it's very old, there is a fairly new looking "Made in Spain" sticker on the bottom, but the glass is full of small bubbles and flaws, lending a vintage look to it. Close to ten inches tall, there are seams on the sides, so I think it's just an inexpensively produced export item. I absolutely love the design and color, though, so home it came with me. Best part? It was less than $5 and the store donates to local charities.

Cranberry & Cobalt in the Sun

(click to enlarge)

I've been cleaning and rearranging my apartment to help myself feel better. I've gathered some cranberry and cobalt glass items in the western livingroom window. The afternoon sun really illuminates them. These are a collection of old family items, thrift stores, gifts and even a WalMart purchase or three. The glass shelf they're sitting on is the rear window of an antique family car, probably one of great uncle Art's mid-1920s Buicks. When the sun is just right, the edge of this piece of glass is a really bright chartreuse, really distinctive. 

The begonia in the middle was a gift from my friend Mary. She clipped some leaves off of her large plant to propagate a new one—something begonias do readily. After several weeks, no roots appeared. She brought the rootless leaves over to me one day, knowing my bright green thumb might help. I kept them in water another 6-8 weeks and still no roots. As a last ditch effort, I planted them in good potting soil, in one of my hand-painted clay pots. New leaves started appearing in less than a week! I have no idea why they didn't root in water, but the plant is doing really well right now so I won't think about it anymore!